THE GOD OF ABRAHAM

Mark 12:18-27

Key verse 12:26

“Now about the dead rising---have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.?’”

Thank God for last week’s 9^th anniversary celebration and the 9-step symposium. Thank God that his word moved many people’s hearts. Some cried and some laughed. God gave us great joy because he is doing wonderful things among us. This is because the Scripture is powerful and God is the living God.

In today’s passage, the Sadducees come to Jesus with a question about marriage at the resurrection. The Sadducees can be compared with Yuppies of today. They had it all: wealth, success, recognition and knowledge. However, despite all they had, they did not know the Scriptures and the power of God. They did not know that God was the God of the living. They were spiritually bankrupt people. So with a broken shepherd heart, Jesus taught them why they were in error with their ridiculous question. From this passage, may God help us have a new attitude towards the Scripture; the holy Bible. May God reveal himself to you personally through the Scriptures so that you may know that he is the living God who raises the dead and who gives us the glorious hope of heaven.

Part one. “At the resurrection, whose wife will she be?” (18-23)

Let’s read verse 18, “Then the Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection, came to him with a question.” In the previous passage, the Pharisees and the Herodians tried to trap Jesus with a trick question about taxes. They asked him, “Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?” They thought they had trapped Jesus with this question. They thought that Jesus could not escape from making enemies with his answer on this question. However, Jesus did not answer them. Instead he asked them to bring him a denarius. Then he asked them whose inscription was on it. When they answered, “Caesar’s”. Then he answered them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” This answer totally amazed them. The Pharisees then left feeling very foolish because Jesus defeated them with this wise answer. They could not say anything.

Now the Sadducees come into the picture here in verse 18. They were rivals of the Pharisees. When they saw that the Pharisees had been outwitted by Jesus, they thought, “Now we can do better. We will have a better question for Jesus that he can’t possibly answer!” The Sadducees wanted to defeat the Pharisees with a question that they thought was too difficult for Jesus. In this way they thought that more people would honor them and recognize them as intellectual giants and praise them.

Just who exactly were the Sadducees? The Sadducees were a group of Jewish leaders, many of them priests, who did not believe in the resurrection. They also denied that there was a spiritual world. They denied the existence of angels and demons. They studied the Bible, but not the whole Bible. For example, they put a lot of the first five books of the Bible to memory, but they only accepted what they wanted to. They picked and chose what they thought might be good for them, the other parts they ignored. The other parts of the Bible like the Psalms and the prophets, they did not study because it challenged them to examine their hearts before God and to repent. We can say that they were liberal in their religious beliefs.

What was their life style like? They were the upper class people of the times. They studied hard and worked hard. They were very successful people. They had high positions with much influence. They also lived very luxuriously. They ate the best food and lived in the largest and most expensive homes. Many of them had two homes. A summer vacation home on the beaches of the Mediterranean Sea and their large homes in the richest part of the Jerusalem suburbs. They constantly checked how their stocks were doing in the Jerusalem Stock Exchange. They always made sure that they wore the latest fashions and rode the latest technology in chariots. They had many servants to serve them and wait on them. They always made sure that they had a good tan. We can compare these people with today’s Yuppies. They are successful people and wealthy people. They work hard and they party hard. They try to get as much as they can. They shop until they drop.

This all seems nice. But there was a serious problem. They denied the resurrection. Verse 18 says that they said there is no resurrection. What does this mean? It means that they did not believe that there was any life after death. They thought death was the end. Why did they believe this? It was because they did not want to think that they were accountable to God. They did not want to believe that there was any kind of judgment. So they thought, “We will live as we want to live. We will live life in the fast lane.” Perhaps their philosophy was , “Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die!”

These Sadducees came to Jesus with a strange and incredible question. This question reveals even better what their inner life was like. Let’s read verses 19-22, “Teacher, they said, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”

What an incredible story! What a ridiculous story! It is true from the Bible that if a woman had a husband who died and she did not bear any children with him, that she was to marry the next brother and to have children through him. The reason was to continue the family line (Deut.25:5-10). The Sadducees tried to confuse Jesus with this incredible story by mentioning Moses’ name in verse 19 saying, “Moses wrote for us…” They tried to make it sound Biblical. They thought that by this story they could really make Jesus stumble. Perhaps they thought that all the seven brothers would fight for the woman at the resurrection. It is incredible and strange that though they did not believe the resurrection, their story is about the resurrection.

What about this story reveals their dark inner lives? In this story, a woman married seven times and all of her husbands died. She went to seven wedding ceremonies and also seven funeral services. The word “death” is mentioned many times. After all her husbands die and she becomes a widow seven times, she also dies. Without resurrection faith and resurrection hope there is only death to think about. Their lives were dark with the thoughts of death. Though they were wealthy and successful people, they could not escape their thoughts of death. When one has no resurrection faith and hope, one cannot avoid thoughts of fatalism, fear and anxiety because they are trying to preserve their fleeting life on this world.

What else did they think? They were concerned with “whose wife will she be?” This was their question, “Whose wife will she be at the resurrection?” They wanted to know who would possess the woman. Their desires were for only what they could grab in this world and to hold onto. Their hopes were in the things that perish and spoil and fade away. They were pragmatic people only thinking, “What do I get from it?” Pragmatists are miserable people because by their thinking and lifestyle, they deny man’s spiritual nature and are only concerned with getting something for themselves. We can say that they are materialistic people. They think more is better.

Their question shows their preoccupation with only this world. They talked about marriage. Perhaps they also had a marriage problem. To people, marriage is an important part of life. Without resurrection faith and hope, marriage is the high point of one’s life. When one becomes a teen-ager one starts to think about marriage. As one gets older, if they are not engaged or married, they begin to worry about marriage. They become impatient and fatalistic and they wonder, “Who will be my husband be” or “who will be my wife?” The Sadducees question shows that they had no spiritual life. They denied the spiritual life and the resurrection of the dead and only thought about the physical world. Let’s see how Jesus answered their ridiculous question.

Part two. The God of the living. (24-27)

Let’s read verses 24-25, “Jesus replied, ‘Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When the dead rise they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.’” The Sadducees were in error because they did not know two things.

First, they did not know the Scriptures. This means they did not study the Bible to accept it as the absolute word of God. When they read the Bible, they picked and chose what they liked and ignored and skipped over the parts that they didn’t like. They just tried to stimulate their minds but didn’t allow the word of God to touch their hearts. This is why they had such a ridiculous question and why their hearts and minds were so fatalistic and anxious and materialistic. It is easy to have this kind of attitude when we read the Bible. There are parts of the Bible that we like to read. The ones that talk about God’s blessings and God’s love. We like to hear things that sound good to us. But other parts of the Bible that talk about commitment, sacrifice and persecutions, we want to avoid. It easy to flip by these verses in the Bible and avoid them altogether. When we have such a liberal attitude towards the Bible, the word of God cannot work in our hearts and we can not meet God personally. Then it is easy to be confused and ask confusing and ridiculous things like the Sadducees and to be spiritually blind like the Sadducees were.

What does it mean to know the Scriptures? It means to read and study the Bible with a humble and learning mind. It also means that when we study the Bible we want to listen, accept it and obey. If we approach the Bible with the desire to allow God to change our lives and work in our lives then we can be spiritual men and women who have great joy and peace. When we study the Bible and know what it says, we come to experience the spiritual world.

Then God begins to open our spiritual eyes and we can begin to taste and experience real joy in our hearts. This is what sister Omy Rodriguez began to experience. Through her 1:1 Bible study with Missionary Sarah Yun, her heart began to be changed and she sought God earnestly through the Bible. She began to read the Scriptures on her own despite being a busy student. When she did this, she began to drink the living water from Jesus. Then Jesus gave her over flowing joy so that she could witness to other students.

Real and true desires to know the Scripture gives us joy from God. If we try to find joy from eating and from human activities, it is really short lived. But real joy comes from God the giver of all good things when we read the Bible. Through the Bible our hearts can become satisfied. This is really where the real blessing is. It comes from knowing God through the Scriptures. It comes from meeting Jesus through personal Bible study. All our life’s questions can be answered when we search the Bible and read it and study it. . This is why we keep studying the Bible day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year. At the end of last year we had Scripture reading Conference. When some of us went to West Virginia last December to read the whole Bible in a few short day, God really began to bless us with new vision and hope and direction. Some say this was the turning point in our ministry for this year.

This December there will also be a Scripture reading conference in West Virginia. More people are going because they have eager expectation to meet God more personally and to be spiritually renewed. It is true that our country needs a spiritual revival. But this can not happen unless we read the Bible daily and take to heart to know what it says and what it means. Then the next important step is to personally apply it to our lives. Most people don’t know the Bible even though they go to church most of their lives. They remain the same and God is very vague and distant to them. Thank God that at UBF we can focus our hearts on the Scripture so that we may be men and women of spirit who are not sad, but happy. Because the Sadducees did not know the Scriptures, they could not experience the spiritual joy and peace of knowing God. This was why their question was so ridiculous and fatalistic. They did not know the Scriptures.

Secondly, Jesus said that they were in error because they did not know the power of God. The power of God is revealed when we read and study the Bible. What is the power of God? The power of God is the power that created the heavens and the earth. When we read in Genesis chapter one, we read that God created the heavens and earth by his word. God created this whole universe out of nothing, just by his words. Throughout the whole Bible, we can see the power of God revealed. When the Sadducees did not study the Bible, they had no spiritual power. How could they claim that they knew the Bible yet they had no spiritual power? They let materials and death rule their thought life. They became anxious and fearful and irritated. Why? They had no power from God. With their thoughts they tried to discipline themselves and convince themselves. But when they stood up to the fact that they would die someday and thinking that is the end, they were ruled by dark thoughts. Even in the book of Exodus, if they would have studied it well and accepted, God’s power is revealed. God delivered his people out slavery in Egypt by using ten plagues on Egypt. God parted the Red Sea to bring the Israelites through it as on dry land. God did incredible things. Yet when they did not know the Scripture, they did not know God’s power and as a result, they became powerless.

Real power comes from knowing the Scripture. I thought real power came from being strong physically. So I worked out a lot and ran a lot thinking I could become very powerful. But in reality I was very weak because I had no faith in God because I did not know the Scriptures. Like the Sadducees I was afraid of death and had dark thoughts. Later, after much Bible study, I learned who the real powerful people are. They are the one’s who know the Scripture because when one comes to know the Scripture, one comes to know the Almighty God who created everything out of nothing, just by his spoken word. This is why when I hear people say about this or that person, “Oh, he is very powerful because he has a lot of money, or he is a powerful because he has such a high position” I say to myself, “he is not powerful if he does not have faith in God because all he has is nothing. In the end, without faith in God, he will return to the dust with nothing.” Real power comes through knowing the Scriptures because through the Scriptures we come to have faith in God, the Almighty God who created all things.

Jesus loved these Sadducees. He did not give up on them. He wanted to patiently teach them so that they could be happy and joyful people instead of sad people. So he taught them about the resurrection of the dead and about heaven. Let’s read verse 25, “When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” Here, Jesus teaches that in heaven there will be no marriage. There will be no wedding ceremonies either. Heaven is not an extension of this world. It is different from this world and we will be different. How different? What does Jesus say? He says that we will be like the angels. What does this mean? It means that our bodies will be different.

The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44 about this. He says, “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body…” While on this earth, we suffer because our bodies are weak and vulnerable to sickness and disease. As we get older we find ourselves saying, “If I only had a little more sleep, then I would be OK.” Last week brother Eric said that he has a chronic back problem. He is a young man, yet already he has a bad back. However, in heaven, he will have a new back that will never give him any problems. Some of us suffer from allergies. In heaven, there will be no allergies to suffer from. In heaven, our bodies will be perfect, like the Lord Jesus (1 Cor.15:49). We won’t have to worry about dieting or exercising.

Jesus did not stop here in teaching the Sadducees. He went on to teach them about the God of the living, from the Bible, the one whom they had denied by their life style and thought life. Let’s read what Jesus said in verses 26-27, “Now about the dead rising---have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!’”

Jesus taught them from the book of Exodus which Jesus refers here as the book of Moses. This is in the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses. This is the part of the Bible they were most familiar with. What was Moses’ human situation at that time? Moses had been living in the desert area at the foot of Mount Sinai as the husband of Zipporah who had six younger sisters. For the past forty years he had been living as an exile in the land. For those forty years his schedule was the same. Get up in the morning and lead sheep to pasture. In the early evening bring them back from pasture. He did this for forty years. For Moses, life was very routine to say the least and quite boring. Inside he felt hopeless and meaningless.

Then one day an incredible thing happened. While he was shepherding his sheep, he saw a strange site in the mountain. It was a bush that was on fire, but was not consumed by the fire. He went up to look at what was going on. When he saw it, God spoke to him from out of the burning bush. He said to him, “Moses, Moses. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Moses was afraid and hid his face. Then God said to him, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”

When God said this he showed that he is the God of the resurrection when he used the words “I am” to identify himself to Moses. The words “I am” are in the present tense. This means that to God, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are still alive. This is because they were with him in heaven, living forever. He did not say, “I was the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” He said “I am.” When we study the book of Genesis we find out how God was with these three men. We see how he took care of their lives while they trusted in him and lived on earth. Because God shepherded them and because they learned to trust God, God was not ashamed to be called their God. Even when they messed up and sinned. Sometimes, they repeated the same bad habits over many years. However, God was faithful to them and he led them. Through this, they learned to believe in God and to have hope in his promises. Sure, the hope of having a great nation come out of their bodies was very encouraging to them. But the greatest promise they held onto was the hope of the kingdom of heaven. Hebrews 11:16 says, “Instead, they were longing for a better country---a heavenly one…”

They all believed that their greatest hope and joy lay in the future eternal kingdom of heaven. Now they are with God in heaven living with him in all eternity in resurrected form, like angels. Jesus told the Sadducees that God is the God of the living. Let’s read verse 27, “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!” To Jesus, this verse which he quoted from Exodus was enough proof for them that they were in error. They did not know the Scripture, they did not know the power of God and then they fell even further because they did not know that God is the God of the living. He is not dead. He is alive and working. When we read about how God used Moses to free the Israelites from slavery through mighty acts of judgment, we can see that he is the living God.

Jesus teaches us here that God is the God of the living. He is not the God of the dead. If God could not raise the dead and there was no resurrection, what kind of God would he be? How hopeless we would be!! However, he is the God of the living. He is the God who raises the dead and gives life. He is the eternal God who is working through history in every generation in people whose hearts are open to him. This is why we need to study the Scripture. God may open our spiritual eyes to know who he is. God may reveal himself to you personally so that you may with confidence say, “The God of the Bible is the living God!! He is my God!!”

Last week we saw that God is alive and working in many students hearts through the 9-step symposium. There were 12 speakers who testified. We could see that God is the living God, who works in others by his powerful word. God is changing Dennis Yoder from being dependent on anti-depressant drugs to be a new creation in Christ. Through 1:1 Bible study God is revealing himself to Dennis as the living God who has the power to transform his life from water to sweet tasting wine. God also showed us he is alive and working and powerful in sister Ewelina’s heart. Through God’s word she could forgive her father for abusing her and mistreating her in the past. Brother Shannon Smith through his testimony wants to have up to the brim obedience. Last week he experienced God’s help when he was given a new job at Ihop.

The world we live in unbelieving and full of many pragmatic Sadducees. It is easy to fall into this type of thinking and become powerless and helpless when we don’t study the Scriptures and believe them. God is living! He is showing this to us. Last week, eight Western aid workers were freed from Afghanistan. Two of them were women. One of them is from Northern Virginia. They had been put in prison since September for telling the Afghan people about Jesus. Then last week, as the Northern Alliance forces overtook Kabul, the Taliban fleed and took them with them in a van that was full of rocket launches and other equipment. It looked like they would be killed either by bombs or from the Taliban. The two women had faith in the living God. During that time as that they started singing songs and even laughing even they knew it was a difficult time. The young lady from Northern Virginia took out her Bible and started reading different scriptures to give them hope and encouragement. Then the next moment they were thrown into cold metal shipping containers for the night. It was so cold. Then the next day they were put into a prison again. Soon they heard intense fighting, gunfire, rocket launches and bombs going off. Within minutes after that it became completely quiet and peaceful. Then all of a sudden, the door of the prison cell swung open and men came to tell them that they were free.

Still, they had to negotiate through a U.S. military official and the local commander who had freed the group from the prison. It was a touch and go situation. Early the next morning, they could hear helicopters in the distance. The women set their head scarves on fire and with the help of some villagers they added wood to strengthen the blaze and create enough light to guide the U.S. helicopters to them. It was like a scene out of the Bible. God rescued them because they trusted God is the living God.

They overcame their fear because they believed God was in control. We need to believe in the same way no matter what our human condition, no matter what our human circumstance, that God is in control because he is the God of the living. Terrorists are not in control, nor are evil people in control. God is in control and he is working in history right now. It is clear to us in this passage, that our error is that we don’t know the Scripture. If we know the Scripture, we know the power of God and we know that God is the God of the living and that this God is working in us right now. Then we won’t be controlled by any fear or terrorists. We can be like the women who laughed in the face of incredible danger because of their faith.

This passage opened up my spiritual eyes to see my sins of limiting God to my own thinking and my own feelings. For over one year I did not have any new sheep. Often times I was tired in the evening to go fishing. I thought, “If I am tired, then God is tired, also.” When sheep kept saying they were too busy for Bible study I became discouraged. I went fishing but each time I went I expected that I would have no appointments. But last week, God gave me a new sheep named Lee Smith who made a Bible study appointment right away. He studied last week for the first time and made another appointment for this week. Through this I can see that God is living because he is working through me. God also is working at our GMU Friday Group Bible study. God used M.David and Hannah to bring Mitch that same time. He enjoyed our Bible study and came back to us after the Bible study to hang out and talk. He also made a 1:1 Bible study appointment with M. David for this week. Through all of this I want to have the attitude to repent all the time I don’t believe God’s word of promise. Real faith is believing without evidence, like Abraham did. Believing God’s word of promise over my feelings and any visible evidence is my prayer topic.

May God help us not to be like the Sadducees. May God help you to know and believe the Scripture and to know the power of God so personal revival may come to your heart. May God reveal himself to you in a very personal way as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob and as the God of the living.

-by Sh. Bruce Hollinger